New Jersey County Upgrades VMS to Better Manage 600 IP Cameras

Qognify, aprovider of video and enterprise incident management solutions, has announced Cape May County as one of the first organizations in the world to deploy Qognify VMS, a truly next generation open architecture enterprise-class VMS that delivers low total cost of ownership, business process support, advanced ecosystem integrations and cloud readiness.

Cape May County is the southernmost county in the state of New Jersey. With much of the County along a picturesque peninsula that includes 30 miles of sandy beaches, it 95,000 year-round population swells to almost one million during the summer months. The Cape May County Government is responsible for the operation, safety and security of the County, including sites such as its airport which is also home to the Department of Emergency Management, the Sheriff's Department, Superior Court and jail, the Cresthaven Nursing Home, as well as the Cape May County Park & Zoo, which attracts as many as 15,000 visitors each day.

With sites spread out across the County’s 267 square miles, the surveillance challenge how to manage a growing network of highly distributed surveillance cameras, that are required to be live 24/7, to help keep residents, workers, visitors, the government’s 1,200 members of staff and its infrastructure safe and secure. A complication is the need for some cameras to be located rural and low bandwidth areas.

The responsibility falls to Network Administrator at the County of Cape May, Dan Gilbert. He states: “Every camera needs to be fully operational and recording non-stop, anywhere the public might be, from the play areas in our Zoo to libraries, airports and courts. Our video management system (VMS) is essential to the performance of the entire network.”

Cape May County’s 600 cameras are all IP and predominately from Axis, with a small number from Sony and other manufacturers. These cameras are connected to 11 NVRs and consume in the region of 2.5 petabits of storage, with all footage being stored for a minimum of 60 days.

The company that has been trusted to meet the Cape May County’s video management requirements for more than 10 years is Qognify. Gilbert explains how this long-term partnership began: “We visited a nearby utility company to learn about how it was managing video surveillance and we were impressed with what we saw.” He continues: “The fact that the NiceVision solution was trusted for the surveillance of its nuclear power plants instilled us with the confidence to use the same solution.”

In the years since, Dan Gilbert has diligently evaluated a range of other VMSs, but has always preferred Qognify, moving from versions of NiceVision to VisionHub, adding: “We want to be sure we have the best system and are delivering the best value for money to the government. I have tested many other VMS’s and even earliest iterations NiceVision would outperform many of them.”

The latest upgrade began in early 2022, when the County became one of the first organizations in the world to deploy Qognify VMS, a truly next generation open architecture enterprise-class VMS that delivers low total cost of ownership, business process support, advanced ecosystem integrations and cloud readiness.

Qognify VMS meets all the County’s fundamental requirements for a VMS. It is can easily handle 24/7 monitoring, as well as being simple to manage, maintain and operate. Gilbert notes a big performance advantage of the new system, that has already been deployed across two of the six sites. “One of the biggest advantages that Qognify VMS provides is that we can control everything from a single console. The video configurator, administration and ability to view live video is now all in one place.”

“Qognify VMS operates so smoothly,” comments Gilbert. This smoothness also extends to the quality of video playback. “It doesn’t matter if you are watching video footage from one day or one week ago. We have ultra-smooth, frame-by-frame, no jitter playback from every camera on the network. It has made a big difference in clarity and picture quality.”

This improvement is even more impressive, given the video networks bandwidth challenges, with the County operating an ethernet virtual private line, and bandwidth speeds as low as 20MBPS in some areas.

Given the scale of the County’s infrastructure it has taken a phased approach to upgrading to Qognify VMS, moving site by site. “With the scale of the infrastructure we have It can feel like we are operating our own small country.” The full transition to Qognify VMS is expected to be completed by the end of year, whilst at the same time the County is increasing the number of cameras in operation.

Looking to the future, the relationship between Cape May County and Qognify is strong, with Qognify VMS providing added functionality that the County can choose to take advantage of. This includes powerful bi-directional integrations with access control and intrusion detection systems, as well as video analytics. Furthermore, as bandwidth increases across the County it has the option to store video data in the cloud using Qognify Cloud Bridge, to reduce its hardware footprint, add even great resiliency and scale its already significant storage requirements as needed.

Gilbert concludes: “With Qognify VMS we are futureproofing our surveillance network for many years to come.”

Featured

  • Security Today Announces The Govies Government Security Award Winners for 2025

    Security Today is pleased to announce the 2025 winners in The Govies Government Security Awards. The awards honor outstanding government security products in a variety of categories. Read Now

  • Survey: 60 Percent of Organizations Using AI in IT Infrastructure

    Netwrix, a cybersecurity provider focused on data and identity threats, today announced the release of its annual global 2025 Cybersecurity Trends Report based on a global survey of 2,150 IT and security professionals from 121 countries. It reveals that 60% of organizations are already using artificial intelligence (AI) in their IT infrastructure and 30% are considering implementing AI. Read Now

  • New Research Reveals Global Video Surveillance Industry Perspectives on AI

    Axis Communications, the global industry leader in video surveillance, has released its latest research report, ‘The State of AI in Video Surveillance,’ which explores global industry perspectives on the use of AI in the security industry and beyond. The report reveals current attitudes on AI technologies thanks to in-depth interviews with AI experts from Axis’ global network and a comprehensive survey of more than 5,800 respondents, including distributors, channel partners, and end customers across 68 countries. The resulting insights cover AI integration and the opportunities and challenges that exist with regard to security, safety, business intelligence, and operational efficiency. Read Now

  • SIA Urges Tariff Relief for Security Industry Products

    Today, the Security Industry Association has sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick requesting relief from tariffs for security industry products and asking that the Trump administration formulate a process that allows companies to apply for product-specific exemptions. The security industry is an important segment of the U.S. economy, contributing over $430 billion in total economic impact and supporting over 2.1 million jobs. Read Now

  • Report Shows Cybercriminals Continue Pivot to Stealthier Tactics

    IBM recently released the 2025 X-Force Threat Intelligence Index highlighting that cybercriminals continued to pivot to stealthier tactics, with lower-profile credential theft spiking, while ransomware attacks on enterprises declined. IBM X-Force observed an 84% increase in emails delivering infostealers in 2024 compared to the prior year, a method threat actors relied heavily on to scale identity attacks. Read Now

New Products

  • Mobile Safe Shield

    Mobile Safe Shield

    SafeWood Designs, Inc., a manufacturer of patented bullet resistant products, is excited to announce the launch of the Mobile Safe Shield. The Mobile Safe Shield is a moveable bullet resistant shield that provides protection in the event of an assailant and supplies cover in the event of an active shooter. With a heavy-duty steel frame, quality castor wheels, and bullet resistant core, the Mobile Safe Shield is a perfect addition to any guard station, security desks, courthouses, police stations, schools, office spaces and more. The Mobile Safe Shield is incredibly customizable. Bullet resistant materials are available in UL 752 Levels 1 through 8 and include glass, white board, tack board, veneer, and plastic laminate. Flexibility in bullet resistant materials allows for the Mobile Safe Shield to blend more with current interior décor for a seamless design aesthetic. Optional custom paint colors are also available for the steel frame.

  • QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC)

    QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC)

    The latest Qualcomm® Vision Intelligence Platform offers next-generation smart camera IoT solutions to improve safety and security across enterprises, cities and spaces. The Vision Intelligence Platform was expanded in March 2022 with the introduction of the QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC), which delivers superior artificial intelligence (AI) inferencing at the edge.

  • 4K Video Decoder

    3xLOGIC’s VH-DECODER-4K is perfect for use in organizations of all sizes in diverse vertical sectors such as retail, leisure and hospitality, education and commercial premises.